Canada Acts to Hold Back Surge of Phony Refugees : 1,000 Per Week Ask for Asylum

Canada, which last year received the United Nations’ highest award for sheltering the world’s homeless, today announced tough new measures to stem the flow of people falsely seeking refugee status in the country.

Refugees, particularly from El Salvador, Guatemala and Chile, have been entering Canada at a rate of 1,000 a week, about three times the 1986 rate.

Immigration Minister Benoit Bouchard said the new measures were designed to head off an “enormous increase” expected over the next two years in the number of would-be immigrants seeking entry as refugees.

“We provide asylum for every genuine refugee who lands in Canada. What we will not allow is this proud tradition to be undermined by those who seek to abuse it,” Bouchard told a news conference.

First Award to a Nation

Last November, the United Nations’ highest recognition of aid to refugees, the Nansen Medal, was presented to Canada, the first time the honor has gone to a nation rather than an individual.

But Bouchard said that while the government was honored to receive the medal, a rise in refugee claimants in recent months threatens “to undermine our entire refugee-determination system and leave our borders increasingly vulnerable.”

The Canadian government has come under increasing pressure to tighten up immigration laws with the flood of refugee claimants and last summer’s Tamil boat people case, when 155 Sri Lankan refugees were rescued from lifeboats off Newfoundland.

Lies Spark Protest

The government gave the Tamils one-year entry permits shortly after they arrived, but a storm of protest arose after it became clear they had lied about the origin of their journey and had paid for illegal passage on a freighter from West Germany.

In December, more than 3,000 people entered Canada claiming to be refugees and in the first six weeks of this year more than 6,000 claims were made.

A large number of refugee claimants are coming by way of Turkey, where federal officials suspect a racket involving Turkish middlemen has been encouraging people to emigrate to Canada.

“If this trend continues, these numbers will soon overwhelm our ability to deal with them,” said Gerry Weiner, minister of state for immigration.

Under the new system, Canada will cancel rules that prevented deportation of refugee claimants coming from a special list of 18 countries. The list includes countries where civil strife or persecution endangers the lives of the claimants, such as some in Latin America and Iran and Sri Lanka.

Also, all refugee claimants coming from the United States will be sent back until an immigration inquiry is held. Ottawa will cease to issue minister’s permits, which allowed certain refugees to automatically remain in Canada without having to go through the refugee claims process.